Chapter 11 - The Fall of the Laurent Syndicate
Marcus didn’t hesitate.
He dropped onto both knees on the gravel path beside my grandfather’s headstone, surrounded by the swaying oak branches and the crying of the harbor gulls overhead.
He opened the velvet box.
Resting inside was not a commercial diamond bought from a retail catalog.
Inside sat an exquisite, hand-crafted ring of solid platinum, featuring a flawless, six-carat cushion-cut royal blue sapphire cradled by two delicate anchors carved from white gold—the historic engagement ring of his mother, Donna Maria Cross, which had been locked in the family vault for thirty years, waiting for the woman who would bring honor back to their name.
“Elena Frost,” Marcus began, his deep baritone carrying an emotional tremor that shook my entire being.
“Three weeks ago, you entered my dining room carrying silver platters with your hair brushed over a fractured jaw, fighting through agony and fear just to keep your insulin funded. You were surrounded by wealth, arrogance, and deceit, yet you never let this world tarnish the pure gold of your spirit.”
He took my hand into his massive, warm palm, his thumb gently caressing my knuckles.
“You stood before thirty armed men and spoke the truth when everyone else was silent. You protected my family’s fleet with your own body, you brought light into a house of shadows, and you taught me what family really means.”
He lifted the sapphire ring, holding it poised before my trembling finger.
“Elena Frost, will you marry me? Will you be my wife, my partner, and the true Donna of my life, my home, and my heart?”
Tears of pure, unadulterated happiness spilled over my lashes, hot against my cheeks.
“Yes,” I choked out through my laughter, throwing my arms around his neck as he rose to his feet. “Yes, Marcus! A thousand times yes!”
Marcus swept me up into his arms, lifting me off the gravel, spinning me beneath the vast winter sky before bringing his lips down onto mine in a fierce, breathless, deeply tender kiss that sealed our destiny forever.
He slid the sapphire ring onto my finger.
May you like
It fit with absolute, divine perfection, gleaming brilliantly beneath the Boston sun.
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